This Week in Travel: Wannabe smugglers & a hero

#1 Spiders (very nearly) on a plane

Spider
Photo by Suman Maji on Unsplash

A Polish man was arrested trying to smuggle nearly one hundred tarantulas in his luggage through airport security in French Guiana. He had in his possession almost ninety adult and adolescent spiders, and dozens of egg-filled cocoons! Hollywood, take note, this has the ingredients of a heart pumping nightmare.

#2 ICYMI, Bangkok is the world’s most visited city

Bangkok
Photo by Andreas Brücker on Unsplash

For the fourth year running, Bangkok, Thailand beat out over two hundred cities including Paris and London, for the most overnight international visitors. The City of Angels topped Mastercard’s annual Global Destination Cities Index with almost 23 million travellers passing through. How many times did you stop in Bangkok this past year?

#3 This “bed” is just right

Guests and staff at a lodge in Montana investigating a suspicious noise in the women’s bathroom came across the unexpected. A little black bear, only about a year old, was found snoozing comfortably across the cool sink. A window had been cracked open wide enough for it to get in, but it was too high for it to climb back out. Wildlife officials safely removed the bear and plan to release the animal back into the wild.

#4 Not all heroes wear capes

Pilot Superhero
Photo by Kristopher Allison on Unsplash

Imagine waiting to board a plane for your well-deserved holiday, and the pilot doesn’t show up. An easyJet pilot on a family vacation had his flight severely delayed for this very reason. He rang up his employers to say he was standing in the terminal with his license and I.D. Before long he received the green light to commandeer the cockpit to fly from Manchester, England to Alicante, Spain. Work on your time-off, or cancel your trip?

#5 Try not to pack the baby

Baby feet
Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

Also, an American traveller was arrested and detained by anti-human trafficking authorities in Manila, Philippines for allegedly attempting to fly out of the country—with a six-day-old baby in her carry-on bag! Staff inspecting the 43-year-old woman’s possessions found the baby hidden in her oversized belt bag. She was unable to produce travel documents for the infant, nor was she able to prove she was the baby’s aunt.

#6 The most expensive bottle of beer

A reporter visiting an English pub was accidentally charged an eye-watering sum for a bottle of beer. Peter Lalor was covering a cricket match in Manchester and had gone out for a drink. He was ready to leave without the receipt but something made him pause and ask, “How much did I just pay for that beer?” The barmaid who presented him the bill looked down to see the better part of £100,000 before fetching her manager.

Chloe Pharamond

This nomad's natural habitat is napping under a shady tree on the beach with a book clutched in hand. She likes fresh coconuts with a healthy splash of rum, organic conversations that meander into the night and getting lost in new places.

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